What is known about the alleged attack on Iran

Friday saw explosions in Iran’s central province of Isfahan, state television said. Meanwhile, US authorities informed US news outlets that Israel had struck back against the Islamic republic.

 

The incident occurs less than a week after Iran conducted its first-ever direct attack on Israeli territory, unleashing a volley of more than 300 drones and missiles. That extraordinary assault was itself retaliation for a previous, widely-attributed to Israel, attack in Syria.

Global powers have warned against letting the tensions that underlie the Gaza War spread to other parts of the Middle East and have called on both sides to exercise restraint in light of the growing rivalry between the two bitter enemies.

What is now known about the alleged attack within Iran is as follows:

What struck?

“Three explosions” were reported close to the Shekari army airfield in the northwest of the province of Isfahan, according to the Iranian Fars news agency early on Friday.

According to Hossein Dalirian, spokesperson for Iran’s space department, there has been “no missile attack for now” and many drones have been shot down.

CNN was informed by an anonymous US official that the Israeli assault inside Iran did not have a nuclear objective.

According to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, the “nuclear facilities in Isfahan province are completely secure”.

Tasnim refuted the claim that Iran had been assaulted by foreign forces, citing reliable sources.

A local activist organization reported blasts in southern Syria as well.

What was Iran’s response?

According to state media, air defense systems were activated over many Iranian cities.

According to the Mehr news agency, airports around the nation were closed, along with flights to the cities of Tehran, Isfahan, and Shiraz.

Commercial planes were circumnavigating Tehran to the north and east and avoiding western Iran, including Isfahan, according to flight-tracking software.

The airport in the Iranian capital was closed, thus one flydubai aircraft that had already left for Tehran had to return to Dubai, the Emirati airline said in a statement.

Iranian state television provided a live stream of regular traffic on a roundabout in Isfahan on Friday morning, and the state-run IRNA news agency said that “no major damage” was recorded after the explosions.

Why this time?

Since the Gaza conflict began in October, Israel has been the target of assaults by armed organizations supported by Iran across the area.

Iran supports the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas as well as Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

However, the direct and recent discussions between Iran and Israel have covered ground never before covered.

Tehran launched hundreds of missiles and drones toward its bitter enemy, Israel, in retaliation for a fatal assault on the Iranian embassy in Damascus on April 1 that was mostly attributed to Israel.

Israel had sworn to counter the Saturday attack, which was mostly thwarted and resulted in no casualties.

Israel will “regret” any strike on Iran, the foreign minister warned, only hours before explosions were reported within the nation on Friday.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian described the Islamic republic’s weekend bombardment as a “legitimate defense” and urged Israel to “stop any further military adventurism” during a speech to the UN Security Council on Thursday at a discussion on the Middle East.

How has the response been?

In response to questions on reports of explosions and attacks in Iran and Syria, the Israeli military told AFP on Friday that “we don’t have a comment at this time”.

Neither the Pentagon nor the White House responded right away.

According to a number of US media sites, Washington was informed in advance of Israel’s attacks but did not approve of the plan or assist in its implementation.

The intensifying rivalry between the fierce adversaries has led to warnings from major world powers.
Iran explosions, Israeli attacks are reported by US media